Camas police arrest burglary, assault suspect after manhunt

A man suspected of burglarizing a Prune Hill neighborhood home and ramming a police car was arrested Monday afternoon after an almost three-hour manhunt. A police officer suffered an injured hand as a result of the collision.

The incident ended shortly after 1 p.m. when a homeowner spotted a suspicious person and called 911. Soon after, police arrested the suspect near Northwest 27th Avenue and Quartz Street with the help of a police dog.

Bradley E. Jensen, 24, of Arlington, was sent to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center to be treated for dog bites, standard procedure when police dogs are deployed, said Sgt. Scot Boyles with the Camas Police Department.

Jensen was later booked into the Clark County Jail on suspicion of residential burglary, robbery, two counts of third-degree assault, possession of stolen property, theft, resisting arrest and hit-and-run driving.

He is expected to make an appearance in Clark County Superior Court today.

Here is how the incident unfolded:

A man called 911 around 10:20 a.m. after he confronted a man stealing items from his daughter’s house in the 1600 block of Northwest 27th Avenue, Boyles said. A Camas police officer arrived two minutes later and found the suspect behind the wheel of a Honda, attempting to get it started. Boyles said the suspect ignored the officer’s requests to stop, so the officer broke a window in the car and pointed a Taser at him. Another officer arrived on scene as the suspect got the car started, Boyles said.

The suspect put the car in reverse and rammed a parked police SUV. At that point, the second officer on the scene, Officer Tim Fellows, attempted to grab the suspect through the broken window. The suspect drove off and Fellows fell down or was thrown from the car, Boyles said.

Fellows was treated by paramedics from the Camas-Washougal Fire Department and sent to a local hospital to be treated for a hand injury. He returned to work later in the day with bruises and scrapes, Boyles said. No bones were broken and he isn’t expected to miss any work because of the injury.

Meanwhile, the driver crashed the Honda into a nearby front yard and fled on foot into the surrounding neighborhood.

Officers from the Camas, Washougal and Vancouver police departments, the Clark County Sheriff’s Office, Washington State Patrol and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife responded and set up a containment area. Police dogs were eventually called to the scene.

Nearby Dorothy Fox Elementary School was in a partial lockdown for about an hour, said Doreen McKercher, spokeswoman for Camas Public Schools. That means people inside the school could move about freely but no one was allowed to enter or leave, she said. No morning or afternoon kindergarten classes were affected.

The suspect was eventually found around 1 p.m. in the 2500 block of Quartz Street.

Homeowner Tina Kaiser said she spotted a man in her front yard who was wearing a towel and hiding from police behind her truck. The behavior caught her attention, so she called 911.

“My adrenaline was really running,” she said.

She stayed on the phone with dispatchers as the man moved into her backyard and eventually into a dog run.

Sgt. Boyles said police found a cellphone in the woman’s backyard earlier in the day. He said the suspect may have returned to the area in an attempt to find his phone.

Police and police dogs converged in the area and detained the man, later identified as Jensen.

Susan Parrish of The Columbian contributed to this story.